Product Description

Beatboxers, singers, and club performers, your Loop Station has arrived--introducing the Boss RC-505 Loop Station, a unique and powerful live performance tool that's perfect for next-generation loop artists. In a compact tabletop device, you have easy fingertip control of five stereo phrase tracks and various loop playback behaviors, plus INPUT FX and TRACK FX that deliver a wide range of real-time processing options for dynamic, expressive sound creation. Just plug in a mic, instrument, or other audio source, and then ride the intuitive panel controls to build and mix some amazing loops! The RC-505 also supports computer integration via USB and operation with external pedals and MIDI, opening a world of advanced looping possibilities for all types of musicians.

Five Stereo Tracks with Dedicated Controls

The RC-505 features five stereo phrase tracks that can play simultaneously, the most yet in a BOSS Loop Station. Independent record/overdub/play and stop buttons for each track let you capture and control loop performances with your fingertips, and dedicated volume faders allow you to mix loop levels on the fly. Each track can have its own playback mode (multi, single, one-shot, reverse, etc.) and tempo sync settings, providing an unlimited range of creative looping behaviors.

Powerful FX Onboard

With the large selection of built-in effects, it's easy to enhance your sounds as you perform. INPUT FX such as ROBOT and VOCODER create unique, dramatic sound textures for recording loops, while TRACK FX like VINYL FLICK and BEAT REPEAT provide dynamic DJ and sampler effects for real-time processing of phrase playback. Six dedicated buttons--three each for INPUT FX and TRACK FX--can be loaded with your favorite effects, giving you one-touch on/off access while looping. In addition, effects parameters (filter cutoff, effect depth, etc.) can be tweaked in real time with the INPUT FX and TRACK FX knobs. Global compressor and reverb effects are also available for processing the overall sound output.

Phrase Memories and Rhythms

99 phrase memories provide onboard storage for phrase track data, various playback and effects settings, and more. A combination of frequently used settings can be saved as a User Set, which you can easily load to quickly reconfigure any phrase memory, even in the heat of performing. 85 different onboard rhythms offer backing for loop recording, with a large selection of odd-measure beats for advanced looping. The rhythm part can be routed to the rear-panel PHONES jack only, giving you a dedicated click track for monitoring purposes.

Audio Inputs and USB

The RC-505 is outfitted with a number of simultaneous inputs, allowing you to capture and mix a variety of different audio sources as you build loops. There's an XLR microphone jack with phantom power, mono/stereo -inch inputs for guitars, synths, or other instruments, and an AUX mini-jack for connecting a music player, smart phone, or other stereo device. Via USB, you can plug into your computer and import/export WAV audio phrases, great for loop archiving or loading up RC-505 phrases with backing tracks or sounds for sampler-style triggering. The RC-505 also functions as a USB audio/MIDI interface, making it simple to integrate with your favorite DAW software for audio recording, MIDI sync, and more.

Customized Looping Control

With the RC-505, you have the ability to set up customized real-time controls for the way you like to loop. You can specify up to eight different functions and operate them in a variety of ways--with front-panel controls, an external expression pedal or foot switches, and/or various MIDI Control Change messages--extending your command of looping and many other operations. The eight control assignments are stored with phrase memories, allowing you to create and recall custom setups for different songs and performing situations.

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This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
"Perfect looper for live electronic music"

Overall:
The Boss RC-505 packs in a lot of features for being marketed as "just a looper". It's really closer to a robust digital recorder or workstation than a pedal type looper.
I purchased this to take the live recording/ looping load off of the back of my Octatrack, which in comparison has a very limited amount of recording, and most importantly, over-dubbing time.
The RC-505 has over 3 hours of recording time, which is more than enough for most purposes. You can save all of the recordings, live while the tracks are still in playback mode. This is a huge plus if you want to take any awesome moments from your live performance back to the studio.
Each of the 5 tracks can have their own recording length, up to 999 bars! All tracks are tempo synced perfectly and there are many options to customize how each track syncs and interacts when the previous recorded tracks.
The fx section goes beyond what you normally get out of the built in fx in a piece of gear like this. In each fx section you have 3 fx slots that you can switch between in real time with out any hiccups or unwanted glitches. One of things that I was very happy with is that each fx slot retains the setting for all the fx on the list, so you can have 3 of the same fx set to each slot with different values, allowing you to easily "play" the fx. This is really awesome with things like delays, beat repeats and the transpose fx. Also, you get TWO of these fx sections, one for incoming audio and one for recorded audio. The only down side that I can see with the fx is that the dedicated fx knob is hardwired to one parameter per fx. This is not that big of a deal, as soon as you select an fx, the menu for send fx will come in to focus and the rest of the parameters are just 2 to 4 button presses away, allowing you to use the main data entry knob for the selected parameter.
The midi sync on this unit is also rock solid. While researching loopers I found that midi sync is largely over looked or poorly implemented in most loopers. I have had no issue syncing the RC-505 to any of my hardware or software. When working with sequencers, you can even have the sampling start on beat, quantizing to the "one" and easily put together group of on time rhythmic phases.
I have not dived in to the built in rhythms, but they sound great and there are a wide variety of time signatures and styles to choose from.
Over all, you can tell that a lot of thought was put in to making this unit playable and easy to use. From the great fx sections and versatile track editing, to how the menus are layed out, you will be able to easily and quickly integrate the RC-505 in to your live rig or studio recording set up.
I would recommend this product to anyone who who needs a good hands on looper or backing track player.

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"RC-505"

Overall:
Moved up from a floor model (RC-3) and am amazed with this machine. The five definable tracks (one-shot, loop) allow a lot of creative room - that I am yet to fully explore. Switches, knobs, faders and buttons are all high quality and seem made for regular use. I've used it almost daily since arrival with no failures of any kind.
The onboard effects are great....enough to fully mimic famous beatboxers (dub fx, Reggie, etc) without an additional pedal. My bass effect pedal (Zoom B1X) delivers no more than what is available in the onboard effect list, and the RC-505 has much higher sound quality than my previous efforts using a XLR converter and traditional effect pedal. It's three types of inputs make for lots of multi-instrument fun that was previously unavailable in my smaller RC-3.
It would be five stars for "perfect" only if a full function foot pedal was available, and if the case were a little more armored (I'm terrified of dropping it). The Boss FS6 pedal is great but might hold back the machines full potential for those who play with two hands. Also....Don't drop it.....ever.
Otherwise it is one of my favorite "instruments" and I highly recommend this product to those who seek the high power of an Ableton loop setup in a hardware package.
There's nothing like hardware for the stage!

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